May 25, 2023

Life pressuresmay lead to multiple sclerosis flares, disability: Study

Washington, May 24: A study headed by Michigan Medicine indicates that stresses across the

lifespan, such as poverty, abuse, and divorce, are linked to deteriorating health and functional

outcomes in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Using survey data frommore than 700 people with MS, researchers discovered that stressful events

occurring both in childhood and adulthood contributed significantly to participants' level of

disability.

The results are published in Brain and Behavior.

"MS is the leading cause of non-traumatic disability among young adults, and additional research

is needed to identify these external drivers of disability that can be addressed or prevented,

including stress, to improve functional outcomes," said co-author Tiffany Braley, M.D., M.S.,

director of the Multiple Sclerosis/Neuroimmunology Division and Multidisciplinary MS Fatigue

and Sleep Clinic at University of Michigan Health.

"This knowledge is needed to inform MS research as well as clinical care. Referrals to resources,

such as mental health or substance use support could help reduce the impact of stress and enhance

wellbeing," Braley said.

More than 2.8 million people in the world haveMS, an autoimmune condition that affects the brain

and spinal cord, in which the protective layer of nerve cells is attacked by the body's immune

system. People with MS can experience unique, often painful, exacerbations of their symptoms

known as a relapses, exacerbations or "flares".

Initially in the study, both childhood and adult stressors were significantly associated with worse

burden caused by relapse after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the association

between childhood stressors and disease burden lost significance when further accounting for

experiences in adulthood.

Studies focused on stress and MS that don't account for the full lifespan, researchers say, could

miss vital information or overestimate the relationship between childhood stressors and health

outcomes.

"Adverse Childhood Experiences, which we call ACEs, and other childhood stressors could impact

immune, inflammatory and behavioral processes throughout life, and reduce resilience to adult

stress," said first author Carri Polick, Ph.D., R.N., who completed this work while at the U-M

School of Nursing and is now a postdoctoral fellow in the National Clinician Scholars Program at

Duke University.

"It is important to use a lifespan approach in future work to better understand patterns and inform

symptom management. For example, we are expanding upon this work to investigate mechanistic

pathways through sleep, smoking and mental health, through which stressors may lead to worse

MS outcomes including increased disability, pain and fatigue."

https://www.newkerala.com/news/2023/63341.htm

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